Agency conference Call

This week the USCIS held a conference call on the findings from a joint trip of USCIS and Department of State officials to Ethiopia in January 2011. A hand out from this meeting can be found through the following link here. Our adoption agency held a conference call yesterday to go over the status of adoptions in Ethiopia and the findings of the USCIS and DOS visit.

It was a long call here are the highlights:

• The Ethiopian government, judges and MOWCYA are all committed to international adoptions.
• The infrastructure is not there for the number of international adoptions taking place. They are doing the best they can. They are committed to ethical adoptions.
• MOWCYA is not stating the number of letters it is writing each day, but it appears to be processing a good number per day.
• Our agency is hearing conflicting reports on whether or not the number of MOWCYA letters will be impacted for families whose court dates were issued after that date.  They should know more in the next few weeks.
• The court is being more meticulous with the documentation needed to complete an adoption. In some cases judges have asked for additional documentation. While this can be frustrating to adoptive parents AWAA supports this as the judges are trying to make sure all adoptions are ethical. 
• USCIS and the Department of State has reviewed the process and adoption program. They did some baseline analysis based on 4000 cases. They were looking for abnormalities. Generally, they did not find fraud but some paperwork was not 100% complete. The process may need some refinement and they are working with the Ethiopian government.
• The Department of State sees some weakness in the processes. They have proposed a voluntary option (this is not in place now and no dates were given) which would allow the Embassy to do it's investigation after the referral but prior to the family's court date. This may slow the issuance of a court date but could make the court to Embassy visit faster.

Overall, the call was positive and AWAA stated over and over the Ethiopian is not closing the international adoption program.

If you were on the call and I missed something major- please feel free to comment.\
Thanks!

US Department of State Update 4/5/2011

Today the US Department issued the following alert click here or see the text below.
Our agency- America World Adoption sent an e-mail today about the release saying:
We are continuing to monitor the situation in Ethiopia and will be in touch with families as we confirm information.
Since the reports of MOWCYA changes in early April, America World has continued to see many families pass court in March and April. The recent staff turnover at MOWCYA has led to many families successfully passing court at their first scheduled appointment. Additionally, we know the court is committed to continuing to process adoption cases in a timely manner.

The US Department of State's alert sounds alarming but I am taking a deep breathe and turning it all over to God.  Currently the number of AWAA families which are passing court on the first court date is a very high percent.  Three families passed court today on their first court date!  Things may slow down so please continue to pray for officials at MOWCYA.

We are asking for prayers for the families who have had a court date (in January, February and March) but did not pass because of the MOWA letter was not present.  These families files are in a backlog.  Please pray the judges would work through the backlog quickly.  Please also pray the judge would issue our cour date.
thanks so much!

US Department alert:
Notice: Significant delays remain likely for cases presented to Ethiopia's Ministry of Women, Children and Youth Affairs after March 8, 2011
The Government of Ethiopia's Ministry of Women, Children and Youth Affairs (MOWYCA) told the American Embassy officials that adoption cases presented to the Federal Court of First Instance prior to March 8, 2011 will be processed expeditiously. However, cases presented to the Court after March 8 will be processed in a more deliberate manner to allow greater scrutiny and oversight. Based on their March 8 announcement the American Embassy anticipates that MOWYCA will process these cases at a rate of approximately 5 per day.
 
It is unclear whether there will be an official announcement from the Government of Ethiopia regarding the plan to reduce the number of cases adjudicated daily.
 
Prospective adoptive parents who did not reach the court summons stage before March 8, 2011, should expect significant delays in the progression of their paperwork through the Government of Ethiopia. Prospective adoptive parents should be in close touch with their adoption service providers to confirm the status of their cases.
 
The U.S. Embassy continues to work with Ethiopian government officials and adoption agencies to gain a clearer understanding of these procedures, and will continue to post information as it becomes available.

Ethiopia update

We have been told that the backlog of MOWA/MOWCYA letters have been written!  The letters are now with the judges.  The judges are going through the backlog of cases daily. This is great news!

In other news, we received an e-mail regarding our little girl.  Please pray for healing.  She is sick again.
thanks

Sweet, sweet news- Ethiopia Update

We received an e-mail from our agency with good news:
America World has received confirmation of significant personnel changes within MOWA.  These changes have resulted in overall staff turnover and changes within the adoption unit.  The unit is now called the Ministry of Women, Children and Youth Affairs (MOWCYA).  We are hopeful that the new leadership will not only support processing an adequate number of favorable recommendation letters, but also continue to implement policies that will best serve the children of Ethiopia.  Due to the staffing changes we anticipate much transition over the next few weeks until the staff are settled into their new positions. We have continued to receive optimistic feedback and have seen how the Ethiopian government is very committed to adoption.
We look forward to more good news and a court date!